Similar to previous years, Switzerland has chosen to use the same national final format, with the show titled ESC 2017 – Die Entscheidungsshow. So far, there has been a submission period and a live check round, and now there are 6 finalists who will perform in the national final on the 5th of February.
Despite using a similar format, there have been some changes made. One of these changes is that each broadcaster, of which there is a total of four, the Swiss German, the Swiss French, Swiss Italian and Swiss Romansh, no longer holds separate submissions to determine their entries for the selection, but rather there was a broad submission. The first phase took place between the 26th of September and the 24th of October, where songs could be submitted online. Unlike in previous editions, the songs weren’t made accessible to the public. Also, for 2017, at least one person needs to have a link to Switzerland, meaning that either the performer, composer or lyricist either have to hold a Swiss passport or be a resident of the county.
There were 21 members of an expert jury who filtered through the submissions and evaluated their potential between the 31st of October and the 14th of November. From here, up to 20 entries were selected for the live check round which was held on the 4th of December, where the contestants had to perform in front of an expert panel, where the best 6 to 10 entries would be selected for the last round, where the public gets a say in choosing their act.
A total of six entries were chosen for the televised final on the 5th of February. The show will be broadcast on SRF, and the winner will be decided by only the public televote. Here are the six acts:
-
Freschta – Gold
-
Ginta Biku – Cet Air La (This is Air)
-
Michèle – Two Faces
-
Nadya – The Fire in the Sky
-
Shana Pearson – Exodus
-
Timebelle – Apollo